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The true cost of fast fashion - YouTube
Channel: The Economist
[1]
Buying clothes has never been easier.
[4]
80 billion items are
manufactured every year.
[8]
We're putting too much product out there,
[10]
most of that product
ending up in landfill.
[12]
So-called 'fast fashion' allows consumers
[15]
to buy more, but they're wearing
these garments less often
[18]
and disposing of them at
an unprecedented rate.
[32]
This is where wardrobe castoffs end up.
[38]
Savanna Rags is a clothes recycling
[40]
and processing plant
in Nottingham, England.
[44]
They process discarded
clothes from recycling bins
[47]
around the country.
[50]
Mohammed Patel has been running
this plant for 12 years.
[55]
Majority of it will go
to Africa and Dubai.
[62]
We send some of it to
Europe and we have a couple
[65]
of buyers here in the UK
that buy from us also.
[69]
Globally, sorting plants
like this only deal with
[71]
around 25% of discarded clothes.
[75]
In Britain, more than
300,000 tonnes of clothes
[78]
end up in landfill every year.
[80]
It's the fastest growing
category of waste in the country.
[84]
But this is a global problem.
[86]
Expanding middle classes in
emerging markets are hungry
[89]
for more and cheaper fashion.
[91]
It's estimated that by
2050, global clothing sales
[94]
could more than triple.
[97]
One of the things that we've
noticed is that the quality
[100]
of the actual material
being used has gone down.
[103]
We're now having to process
a lot more just to get the
[106]
same quality of goods that we can sell on.
[109]
But how can the fashion
industry continue to grow
[112]
while addressing the
environmental need for people
[115]
to buy fewer clothes?
[120]
New York fashionista Ijeoma
Kola is less about rags
[124]
and more about the latest runway fashions.
[127]
Because I post often on Instagram,
[129]
there is a little bit of
pressure to have a new outfit.
[137]
She's a fashion blogger.
[138]
Her stylish posts and
clothing tips are attracting
[141]
a big online following.
[143]
I found myself before
buying a lot of clothes.
[146]
I usually bought clothes
from H&M and Zara, or ASOS.
[150]
But if you're looking for
trendy pieces they have them,
[152]
they're pretty affordable.
[156]
Today she's looking for
a new outfit for a swanky
[158]
industry event.
[160]
But this store doesn't sell
clothes, it rents them.
[166]
Ijeoma has been championing
Rent the Runway's radical
[169]
new approach to high end fashion.
[172]
Rent the Runway is a
clothing borrowing service
[174]
which allows you to rent
clothes for either 4 or 8 days
[178]
at a time.
[180]
You are cycling through clothing as fast
[181]
but you're borrowing it with other people
[183]
so other people get to wear the same thing
[185]
that you're wearing as well.
[187]
On average only 20% of clothes are worn
[189]
on a regular basis.
[192]
Rent the Runway's mission
is to change consumers
[194]
relationship with the clothes they wear.
[197]
Rather than buying something
only getting to wear it
[199]
maybe three or four times
[201]
before you decide to give
it away or throw it away
[204]
an item is worn a lot more
when it is being shared
[207]
across different people.
[211]
Rent the Runway only has a
couple of flagship stores
[214]
but online it's a giant
and it's disrupting
[217]
the fashion industry.
[219]
To date, there are 10 million
members so it comes with
[222]
a hefty laundry bill.
[225]
The company claims to have the
largest dry cleaning facility
[227]
in the world.
[229]
Rent the Runway is getting
more mileage out of
[232]
items of clothing, it's
also helping to tackle
[234]
an increasing throwaway culture.
[237]
But the last thing clothing brands want
[239]
is for consumers to buy less.
[243]
Except perhaps, for Patagonia,
an outdoor apparel brand
[246]
which sent shock waves
through the industry with this
[249]
full page advert in the New York Times
[251]
on Black Friday 2011.
[255]
Here in Amsterdam, Ryan
Gellert heads up Patagonia's
[258]
operations in Europe and the Middle East.
[265]
The apparel industry has become
[267]
one of the most polluting in the world
[269]
as an industry we're creating
product that people don't need
[273]
by stimulating demand
and creating this sense
[276]
that if you don't buy it now
it's not going to be available.
[279]
There's this race to the
bottom on price and quality
[283]
that is an unsustainable model.
[286]
Patagonia's philosophy flies
in the face of fast fashion
[289]
to buy once, buy well, and mend clothing
[292]
for a longer lifespan.
[294]
So maybe doing that in
Amsterdam and then figuring out
[297]
how to share it elsewhere.
[299]
With the largest single repair
facility in North America,
[302]
and mobile mending services
around Europe and America,
[306]
Patagonia's anti-fashion
environmental message
[309]
has resonated with people
who buy into their vision.
[312]
Helping our customers keep
their product in use longer
[315]
was also one of the original
big ideas in Patagonia.
[321]
Between 2008 and 2014,
profits reportedly tripled.
[327]
Patagonia claims it
generates revenue of nearly
[330]
1 billion dollars a year.
[335]
It's hope is to inspire
other brands to tackle the
[337]
environmental impact of fast fashion.
[340]
If I had the opportunity to sit down with
[343]
leaders from some of the
bigger fast fashion companies
[346]
in the world, what I'd really
encourage them to understand
[349]
the full impact of their supply chains.
[352]
Patagonia provides a glimpse
into a more enlightened
[355]
approach to fashion.
[356]
But they're a rare example.
[361]
For Mohammed, the boom in
fast fashion has been good
[364]
for business, but this throw away culture
[367]
sits uncomfortably with him.
[369]
Sometimes it's soul destroying,
because you come to work
[371]
and you just think, is
this what we've come to
[373]
that the human race all we think
about is dispose of things.
[378]
The environmental impact on
the planet is just colossal
[382]
and I don't think we as
the human race realize
[384]
what it is that we're doing,
just for the sake of wearing
[387]
a pair of jeans.
[389]
In order to tackle the throwaway culture,
[391]
brands and consumers need
to change their behaviors.
[395]
Industry pioneers are
proving that there are viable
[397]
business opportunities in selling less,
[400]
others need to follow suit.
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